January 9th, 2008

Today we were all supposed to meet at 9 after we had enjoyed some of the complimentary breakfast the hotel provided—yummy croissants. Problem was that some people didn’t change their clocks (because Paris is an hour ahead of London). Once we figured that glitch out we all proceeded to the metro to attempt one of the largest museums in probably the world—The Lovre. It was pouring rain out, so it was a good day to do a museum for a few hours. I really enjoy art and art museums, but there is just so much at the Lovre that you have to be really picky about what you make sure to see. Of course we hit up all of the famous ones (such as Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo), as well as wandering around to a few interesting exhibits and making sure we were able to see personal favorite of peoples’. Amy, Corby, Meghan and I spent hours looking over all the absolutely amazing paintings. I love looking at oil pieces, and I could spend hour staring at one work. It was really cool to see artists who had come in and were painting replicas of the paintings while standing right next to the original. Since I have already visited the Lovre, I have to say my favorite piece this time around was the statue of Psyche and Cupid embracing. It shows such longing.

After we grabbed a quick sandwich at the Lovre we all left for Notre Dame. We are only here two and a half days so we want to get as much in as possible which means we cant spend the whole day at one museum. It was only about a 15 minute walk, and there was the church. It was cool to see, but all the beggars outside made it quite sad. I walked around the inside for a little while (they played great music but it wasn’t as extravagant as the churches we saw in London), before joining up with some people to head to the top. Even though it wasn’t as high as St. Paul’s, after 400 steps we were able to see the whole of Paris. The city is so expansive—you could see it stretching for miles (see picture below-- the famous gargoyle over looking the city, you can even see the Eiffel tower)! It was really cool to also see the big bell that’s tones through out the day, and also the famous gargoyles. You can’t help but think about “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. Then we descended back down to the streets of Paris.

We now had free time and a group of us used it to wander around the Latin Quarter. We went into Shakespeare and Company bookstore, browsed some stores and even saw a fountain. The smell of crepe street vendors was making us hungry, so we went to a restaurant. I got a three-course meal for 10 euros—it was a good deal and it filled me up. We wandered around a bit more and stopped into a pharmacy to get something for my cough—hopefully it helps. Then we got back on the metro to head back to the hotel area. We stopped at a café/ bar for hot chocolate and wine before turning in for the night. It was a long day but hopefully we can get well rested enough tonight for lots more sight seeing tomorrow. Bon nuit!